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FILE - In this July 22, 2019 file photo, signs warn about trespassing at an entrance to the Nevada Test and Training Range near Area 51 outside of Rachel, Nev. Officials in Nevada's rural Lincoln County have drafted an emergency declaration and are planning with state officials to handle possible crowds that might arrive for an event next month dubbed "Storm Area 51." The county commission on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019 conditionally approved two events in tiny desert towns near the site popularly known as the home of government studies of outer space aliens. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)

Area 51 events in Nevada prompt emergency crowd planning

August 20, 2019 - 2:29 pm

The Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Fearing they could be overwhelmed with visitors, officials in the remote Nevada county that's home to the Area 51 military base have drafted an emergency declaration and a plan to team resources with neighboring counties and the state ahead of events next month tied to the "Storm Area 51" internet drive.

The elected board governing the county with about 5,200 residents conditionally approved two events Monday for tiny desert towns near the once top-secret U.S. Air Force test area known in popular lore as a site for government studies of outer space aliens.

County officials are concerned that a surge of visitors will crowd campsites, gas stations and public medical, internet and cellphone services. Officials count just 184 hotel rooms in the county nearly twice the size of the Connecticut.

"The cellphone system is going to go down," Higbee said. "You get more than a couple of hundred people there, and it's going to crash. Cell service won't be available."

The Little A'Le'Inn in the community of Rachel, population about 50, is scheduling a three-day music festival Sept. 20-22 dubbed Alienstock. Hotel co-owner Connie West has said she's expecting 10,000 people.

The Alien Research Center souvenir shop in Hiko, a town of about 120 a 45-minute drive from Rachel, plans a Sept. 20-21 exposition.

The events evolved from an internet post inviting people to run into the remote test area in the Nevada desert that has long been the focus of UFO conspiracy theories.

County Sheriff Kerry Lee said Tuesday he was meeting with state emergency planning officials.

County officials have also met with officials from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in Clark County, the sheriffs of White Pine and Nye counties, and the Nevada Highway Patrol.